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Recently a letter was published from an individual from Reading. His concern was the slow response of the police in Charlottesville, Virginia.

This is to possibly explain to this individual and all others that things are not always what the media reports. Sitting home In a secure place in front of your TV or with a newspaper on your lap without fully knowing what is going on, don’t judge or try to condemn.

After wearing a badge for more than 30 years both municipal, military and governmental, there have been times that emotions had to be kept under control when your feelings could cause a bad situation to get worse. When you attend the police academy, you are told early on that, “You might think you’re going to change the world, but the world will change you!” You learn as you progress that, depending on your agency, the chain of command may be the president or general, the governor or mayor. And throw the legal system in. It filters down to your director or chief, to the captain, lieutenant, sergeant, corporal, then you! You do nothing in a situation like a large demonstration or riot without orders from the top, nothing!

Step outside the line and act on your own and you face disciplinary action from above because you opened your agency and yourself for criminal action and civil action. The press would love this: “Rogue cop, shoots or bludgeons unarmed, defenseless demonstrator.” And your agency will throw you under the bus for failure to follow orders.

I’m sure those officers as they faced the rocks, urine bottles and other things would have only been too happy to retaliate. Discipline and following the orders of those over you Is part of the rules. The press rarely prints or shows what the poor demonstrators do, and if they do, it is not dwelled upon. If you’re planning to be a cop, have a thick skin and an ability to keep calm when others are going nuts. We rush in when others are running out; 9/11 proved that.

The writer stated that the words “Protect and Serve” apparently didn’t mean anything to these cops. And their agency could have saved money not supplying the police that equipment. Well yes, there are cops who abuse their power. They put the tarnish on the badges of those of us who take those words as part of our oath. We were told we hold the most awesome power In the world. We can either save a life or take a life in the blink of an eye. The equipment issued In many cases is inferior sometimes to what the bad guys have.

Seems there are haters and always will be. Cop haters are usually the ones that got caught doing something they shouldn’t have that hurt someone else and had to pay, or a relative or friend of the perpetrator. Which even though the evidence was there or the person was caught red-handed, the cop was wrong, he was picking on me!

I could go on and on, but trying to explain to someone who has no clue, is hard. We leave our home every morning, maybe for the last time. We face things the average person could never cope with or understand. We see humankind at its very worst. On the other hand, we sometimes see people at their best bring life Into the world or keep someone from ending their own life. We are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts,uncles and grandparents. Sometimes we must be some of these for strangers. We are shoulders to cry on when a child is killed by a drunk driver and in the same token the one who must administer justice to the one who killed that child. We stand between the abused wife and her abuser; sometimes that same victim becomes a threat to our lives because their breadwinner is being taken away.

So, Mr. Reading, before you blow, know!

Frank R. RiceAshlandRetired SergeantState Capitol Police

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